PRESS ASSOCIATION -- Students could apply to university after receiving their A-level results under proposals for a major shake-up of the admissions system, it was reported.
UCAS has privately suggested that from 2016, universities should no longer offer places based on a student's predicted grades.
The proposals were put forward by UCAS chief executive Mary Curnock Cook during a private meeting at their annual conference in London last week, the Guardian reported.
A source close to Universities Minister David Willetts told the newspaper that the proposal is of "real interest" to ministers.
If a move to so-called post-qualification application (PQA) is to go ahead, it will need the backing of universities, UCAS and ministers.
Such a reform would mean a dramatic overhaul of the admissions system, with teenagers taking their A-levels earlier than June, and then applying to university.
Under the current system, students usually apply to university between the September and January before they sit their A-levels, and are given conditional places based on their predicted results.
Places are then confirmed by universities in August, after candidates receive their final A-level grades.
Some experts say a move to PQA will mean that poorer students, who are less likely to apply under the current system because they do not believe they will get the grades to go to a leading university, are more likely to go if the system is changed. But others argue that PQA leaves too little time for students to apply.
A spokesman said: "UCAS is engaging with a range of stakeholders on the recommendations to improve the admissions process for applicants, institutions and other stakeholders. We are coming to the end of the research process and full details will be published in a consultation document later in October. A post-results system is one of a number of proposals that are being considered."